


maybe if i stand still enough

by starksnack



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Awesome Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, dumb Steve Rogers, why is this not already a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28246053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starksnack/pseuds/starksnack
Summary: “Mr. Stark is on his way down, should I tell him you’re here?” Jarvis asks.Steve hadn’t asked to try on the suit and Tony hates it when people touch his stuff. He’d be pissed to learn that Steve had not only been in the workshop while he wasn’t there, but had tried on the suit as well. The suit and Tony were one! What did that mean that Steve got into it without asking?Rushing to the display case, Steve steps inside, turning around and stilling like a statue. “Jarvis, pretend I’m not here!”Steve gets stuck in the suit, it goes better than expected
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55
Collections: 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange





	maybe if i stand still enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jellybeanforest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellybeanforest/gifts).



> happy holidays jellybean!! sending lots of love and hugs! i truly wish the joy of the season brings you lots of laughter and love, it's what you deserve,, i hope you enjoy this one<3  
> i went with your prompt - steve gets stuck in the suit cause i thought it was so hilarious
> 
> special thanks to my fantastic beta readers, both of whom shall be revealed later! they both did an amazing job and i'm so grateful for them and all the love they showered me with.

When Steve isn’t busy, he spends the majority of his time in Tony’s lab. He doesn’t quite know how it became a thing between them, but Steve thinks it started when he brought down a homemade plate of mac and cheese for Tony and stayed, sitting on one of the workbenches to sketch. Suddenly, there was a couch in the workshop just for him, and a small table stocked with drawers full of expensive art supplies. He had thanked Tony, but the other man waved it off, diving back into his projects and muttering to his robots.

Sketching and bantering back and forth with Tony is the best way to unwind after a long day of training and Avengers business. While the communal floor on the tower always has another Avenger to blow off steam with, the workshop is a safe haven, and Tony is a quiet comfort to Steve while he works.

Maybe that’s how Steve ends up in the workshop alone while Tony is on a business trip to Milan. Tony is only gone for the weekend, but Steve maybe, kind of, misses him, and decides that being in the workshop is the next best thing to the real Tony, until the other man returns to the tower.

Dum-E is the first to greet him, rolling over to Steve from his charging station with a box of Pop Tarts clutched in his claw. Steve’s brows raise at Dum-E’s treasure, accepting it from the bot and patting his support strut. He’d have to return them to Thor soon; the last thing he wanted was to see their home go up in smoke thanks to a thunderous temper tantrum.

Butterfingers and U are more cautious, beeping at Steve from the corner with their heads tipped together as if they’re conspiring with each other. Steve likes to think they are. He knows they have rudimentary communication systems, and part of him likes the idea that they can talk. Kind of like pets.

Steve slumps onto his couch with his sketchbook, enjoying the way the fabric smells like Tony under the aroma of acrylic paint and pencil lead. It’s a harmonious mixture of the two of them, and Steve can’t help but think how perfectly they go together.

Dum-E bends at his feet, looking a lot like a dog curling up at its master’s heels. Steve reaches down to lovingly stroke his claw. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”

Steve sketches out a quick doodle of a chibi Tony and him hugging Dum-E before carefully tearing it out of the sketchbook and handing it to the bot. “This is a present for you. Because you’re so nice to me and Tony.”

Dum-E beeps excitedly, taking the scrap of paper and racing back to his charging station to show the other bots. Steve knows that, like all his other doodles, Dum-E will get Tony to hang it up on the art wall they’ve started amassing for the kiddos by the charging station.

Turning back to his sketchbook, Steve outlines the suits of armour lining the wall that stand proud in their display cases. It’s like Tony’s genius is splayed out for Steve to see, and it warms his heart to think about everything Tony does to keep the people he cares about safe. A zoo takes up residence in Steve’s stomach, trampling his lungs and leaving him breathless as he thinks about the weight of his feelings for Tony. He’s the strongest person in the world, yet they’re still crushing him.

In the silence of his mind, Steve can admit that _maybe_ he has a teeny crush on Tony. While he’s more Captain America than anything else these days, exuding a strong presence and brooding personality, he revels in the moments where he gets to be the bumbling, awkward Steve Rogers who offered his dates popcorn and got Peggy to be his dance partner.

Steve wonders if Tony feels the same way about being Iron Man. He’s so different in and out of the suit, yet so adamant that he _is_ Iron Man, and that the suit and he are one. Steve knows the version of Tony that’s vulnerable. The same Tony who asked Steve to pour all of his alcohol down the drain when he decided to go sober, the one that sat with him on the couch with his eyes squeezed shut after a nightmare. Steve cherishes him, every part of him. 

Tony is strong without the suit, anyone with eyes can see that, but the armour gives him a renewed confidence that Steve loves to see. Tony deserves to feel safe and strong in this world, and Steve is glad the armour gives that to him. Maybe putting on the suit will give him the confidence he needs to tell Tony how he really feels.

“Jarvis?” Steve begins hesitantly, setting his sketch pad down on the couch and standing.

“Yes, Captain Rogers?” The AI responds promptly. It almost sounds like he’s interested, and while Steve knows that Tony gave Jarvis the capacity for some emotion, it still startles him.

Stepping up to the suits, Steve looks over each one, trying to decide which he should try and stick himself into. “Would it be possible to try on the armour?”

Steve holds his breath, waiting for the rejection. If Jarvis tattles on him to Tony, Steve will never hear the end of it. Embarrassment is not a good start to a conversation about feelings — which may or may not go in Steve’s favour.

“Yes, Captain Rogers,” Jarvis responds, highlighting the armour at the end of the semi-circle. “Might I suggest the Mark Eight? Mr. Stark has taken the Mark Nine to Milan with him.”

“That sounds good,” Steve responds, stepping up to the platform and mentally preparing to get into the armour. He’s not entirely sure what to expect, but the suit-up is seamless, gears and metal locking into place. It doesn’t feel tight, like he expected it to; despite Tony being smaller than him, the suit seems to accommodate his larger size.

“If I may,” Jarvis begins, sounding hesitant. “Mr. Stark has some designs on his personal computer of an armour in your colour scheme. If you were to suggest you wanted an armour of your own, I’m sure he would be happy to oblige.”

“Huh,” Steve whispers, twisting his hips and opening and closing his hands. The HUD lights up, recognizing his retinal scan and showing him different data points on the objects around him.

“I am going to disable your weapons for now,” Jarvis adds helpfully, and Steve’s shoulders relax. He didn’t even realize he’d been tense, but the idea that he won’t be responsible for blowing up the workshop, Tony’s safe haven, is a good one.

“Mr. Stark is on his way down, should I tell him you’re here?” Jarvis asks.

Steve hadn’t asked to try on the suit and Tony hates it when people touch his stuff. He’d be pissed to learn that Steve had not only been in the workshop while he wasn’t there, but had tried on the suit as well. The suit and Tony were one! What did that mean that Steve got into it without asking?

Rushing to the display case, Steve steps inside, turning around and stilling like a statue. “Jarvis, pretend I’m not here,” Steve rushes out in a hushed voice, just as Tony gets out of the elevator, keying in the access code for the shop.

The lights in the suit go dead and Steve holds his breath, squinting through the glass of the eye-slits as Tony enters the workshop, humming to himself and shaking his hips. He looks so beautiful, even with jet-lagged bags under his eyes and shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

“Daddy’s home,” he calls as Jarvis lights up his monitor display, projects surrounding Tony as he walks toward the bots’ station. “What has you all excited over there?” Tony asks, squinting around them. Dum-E wags the paper at him and Tony lights up. “Did you get a present from Steve?”

Tony holds his hand out to Dum-E, praising the bot when he hands over the sketch without a fuss. Steve can’t believe he forgot about the drawing. Tony will surely know he was in the workshop now.

“This is so cute,” Tony whispers, a hand on his jaw as he looks over the drawing. Maybe Steve’s eyes are playing tricks on him, but it looks like Tony’s cheeks tinge red, the colour spreading to the back of his neck. “I hope you boys told Steve ‘thank you’ like good little bots.”

Dum-E seems to look right at where Steve is standing in the armour, trilling loudly in gratitude. “Don’t say thank you to me,” Tony chides, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes. “Say thank you to Steve when he gets here.”

Steve’s breath hitches when Dum-E rolls closer to the case, trilling again insistently, but thankfully Tony just goes along with it, not questioning the bot further. He pats Dum-E’s support strut. “At least you earned your name, kiddo.”

Digging through his drawers, Tony finds some scotch tape so he can add Steve’s doodle to the art wall. It’s really just a shrine of Steve’s love for Tony, but thankfully no one has called him out for it yet. “What do we think, boys?”

All the bots beep happily at Tony and he chuckles, giving them each a pat. “I missed you guys, too. I’m gonna go grab a cup of coffee and I’ll be right back for playtime. Don’t worry, all of you will be getting a good oiling from Daddy.”

Tony heads to the elevator, whistling happily as he disappears through the closing doors. Relieved, Steve lets out a loud sigh, sagging in the suit. While he enjoyed that window into Tony’s personal time with the bots, he wished it hadn’t been trapped in the suit, holding his breath until he was blue in the face.

“Jarvis,” he whispers, loud enough for the AI to hear him but quiet just in case Tony decides to come back to give his bots more hugs and kisses. “Can you let me out?” Steve wiggles in the armour, surprised at the lack of give. Tony moves so fluidly in it, but then again, Steve figures he had to have gotten his delicious muscles from somewhere.

“I’m afraid the automatic release is stuck,” Jarvis responds regretfully. Though it almost sounds like there’s a hint of a smile on his face or matrix or whatever, like he was amused by Steve’s situation. “You’re going to have to ask someone with hands to press the emergency release catches.”

“Shit,” Steve grumbles, wishing he could facepalm without potentially giving himself a concussion.

Dum-E beeps at him and Steve rolls his eyes. He doesn’t need to understand binary to know the bot is saying _language._ It kind of gives him the warm fuzzies, knowing that Tony told his kids the ridiculous story. And that they remembered. He wonders if Tony talks about him often. Then again, he’s the only Avenger who really spends time in the workshop, other than Tony of course, so maybe that’s the only reason.

For being the master tactician of the team and the one responsible for strategy, he really hadn’t thought this one through. Steve clunks down from the display case, cringing at the loud sound of the armour’s boots against the concrete. “Hey Dum-E, I promise to draw you more pictures and buy you some really delicious motor oil if you get the release catch for me.”

Steve is able to somehow get the faceplate up, and he pleads with the bot, blue eyes wide and begging. “I’ll even get you a nice clean towel, and play fetch with you. I know how much you love my clean socks when they’re warm from the dryer,” he adds, hoping that would sweeten the deal.

“Steve?”

Whirling around, Steve comes face to face with a surprised Tony, slack-jawed as he holds his coffee mug halfway to his mouth. Steve’s eyes widen, internally shrieking as he ferrets around his brain for an excuse good enough to fool a genius. Unsurprisingly, he comes up blank. 

“Hey, Tony,” he grins good naturedly, trying to not appear as awkward as he feels. Maybe if he sweet-talks Tony, the other man won’t notice that Steve is in his suit. Bucky had always said his big blue eyes could help him out of any situation. “I’m so happy you’re home. We’ve missed you so much. How was Milan?”

“I’m happy to see you, too.” Tony’s face softens, and it quenches the anxious fire building in Steve’s chest. Maybe this could actually work. “Milan was great, as usual, but you don’t care about that. You’re trying to distract me.” He arches a questioning brow and Steve ducks his head. Of course Tony wouldn’t buy it, his friend often knew him better than he knew himself. “Why are you trying to bribe Dum-E?”

Tony’s eyes widen further as he takes in the sight of Steve wearing his armour. His precious coffee gets set on his work table as he ventures closer to Steve, looking him up and down. “Wait, is that the Mark Eight?”

“Maybe.” Steve didn’t know it was possible for him to turn even redder, and before he knows it, apologies are streaming out of his mouth beyond his control. He doesn’t even remember why he thought this would be a good idea. Tony is going to ban him from the lab, and Dum-E will be sad to lose his favourite playmate, and it will be all Steve’s fault.

He should have waited patiently on the communal floor like the rest of the team. He would have saved himself so much embarrassment. If Phil finds out, Tony will get tazed and that’s the last thing Steve wants.

“I’m so sorry, Tony. I know I shouldn’t have been down here alone, and I didn’t even have your permission. I’m—”

“No, I’m not mad,” Tony shakes his head, hands up placatingly as he talks a mile a minute. Steve will always be in awe of how fast his brain works; he can barely get through a few sentences into a conversation with Tony before he stumbles over his feelings. “Not mad at all, you look really great in the armour, Steve. If you wanted a suit, you should have told me. I have specs drawn up already. If you get out of that one, I can show you.”

So apparently Jarvis wasn’t lying about that. Projections of a very patriotic-looking armour appear in the air beside Tony. They look a million times better than the repaint the government did for Rhodey’s suit that the media bashed for weeks. The fact that Tony had designed him a suit made Steve feel a lot better about all of this. Still guilty, but less so.

Steve looks down at his iron-clad toes before glancing back up at Tony through his lowered lashes. “Maybe, perhaps, I’m a little stuck.”

Tony bites his lip in a way Steve knows means he wants to laugh and he rolls his eyes in response. Tony shakes his head, “I’m sorry, it’s not funny. How long have you been stuck in the suit?”

“Yes, it’s fine, laugh it up. I know it was a dumb thing to do, I’m sorry. I only realized I was stuck when you went to get coffee. I tried to get out, but Jarvis said the automatic release wasn’t working. He made sure all the weapons were offline so I wouldn’t break anything, I promise.” Steve feels like he’s going to hyperventilate, hands shaking as he bites his lip nervously.

“Not dumb,” Tony smiles, stepping close enough that Steve can smell him, sweaty and greasy from his plane ride, but still beautiful. His eyes are glittering with mirth in a way that makes Steve want to kiss his crow’s feet. Tony’s clever fingers find the emergency catches easily, as he slowly pulls the suit apart like he’s unwrapping a present. “So you were here when I got home. Impressive job at pretending you were just another suit in my collection; I had absolutely no idea. You look adorable by the way. What did you put it on for?”

Steve shrugs, sure that he looks like a blond strawberry by now. “I don’t know. I missed you a lot. And when you’re home we spend time here together. I was in the lab sketching and I saw the armour. This suit makes you confident and I figured it would give me the courage to tell you how I feel.”

“No one is more courageous than you, Steve,” Tony scoffs. “And I don’t mean Captain America, I mean _you_.” Tony sets his hand on Steve’s chest, fingers splayed out and pressing firmly over his beating heart. Tony’s hand feels blazing against Steve’s shirt, and he wants to pull him in for a hug. “How do you feel?”

“I think I really like you,” Steve whispers, afraid to say it too loud and send Tony running for the hills.

Tony’s grin brightens up the whole room and makes Steve feel significantly less stupid for getting stuck in the suit. Maybe this was a good thing after all.

“That’s great because I think I really like you, too.” And with that, Tony surges forward to slot his lips against Steve’s. He tastes like coconut chapstick and coffee and Steve gathers him in his arms, still stuck in the suit from the waist down, but glad for the support it provides as his knees go weak.

“Okay, I don’t think I like you,” Tony laughs, pulling away to look up at Steve. His brown eyes are beautiful, swirling chocolate and minty green as he pecks another kiss to Steve’s lips. “I know I do. I’ve liked you for a long time.”

Steve’s answering chuckle is buried in another sweet kiss from Tony.


End file.
